Team
Alden E. Stoner
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, Alden brings over 20 years of experience in building and marketing social impact organizations. Her expertise is rooted in creatively bringing together private, non-profit, academic and governmental entities to effectively change attitudes, behaviors, and policy.
Prior to joining Nature Sacred, Alden mobilized organizations and the public around social issues, films, Fortune 500 brands, and start-ups. Most recently, she served as the VP, Marketing and Operations at Quantified Ventures, an outcomes-based capital firm, leading company-wide initiatives such as the creation of their first-ever impact report and B-Corp certification. Prior to that, she ran Social Impact at Jeff Skoll’s Participant Media. There, she led a team to develop and execute award-winning campaigns to proactively address social issues, including the environment, health, and social equality.
Alden’s history with Nature Sacred runs deep. She served on the organization’s Board for nearly 15 years, contributing to the strategic planning and overall operations of the organization. She also co-directed and produced several short films about the organization’s National Nature Sacred Award winners.
Alden graduated with a B.A from the University of Southern California, Phi Beta Kappa, and holds a dual Masters in Global Media and Communication from USC and the London School of Economics. She lives in Annapolis with her husband and son where she gets her 20 minutes a day of nature by paddle-boarding on the Chesapeake Bay, forest walks with her kiddo, and Japanese wood carving.
Erin Robertson
Chief Programs Officer
Erin joined Nature Sacred in 2015, and has since created the Nature Sacred Network, a thriving coalition of Firesouls who convene, share, learn, and grow from each other. It was from this Network and its collective strength that the potential to scale the organization’s outcomes was born.
Inspired by the power of nature to transform individuals and communities, she believes that bonded together, Sacred Places can have a real impact on a city’s health and prosperity. As Chief Programs Officer, she continues to work to place a spotlight on the way these greenspaces can foster thriving and resilient cities in lasting, meaningful ways.
Prior to joining Nature Sacred, Erin was with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s development department. She also previously served as Legislative Director for the Majority Leader of the Maryland State Senate.
Erin is a graduate of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, and currently resides in Annapolis with her husband and four children. Erin gets her 20 minutes a day of nature by walking with (chasing) her children and golden retriever through the many beautiful parks in Maryland, coaching youth sports, and connecting with Firesouls and communities in Nature Sacred’s vibrant and growing Network of Sacred Places.
Daniel Greenspan
VP, Design & Sacred Places
As VP of Design and Sacred Places, Daniel brings expertise in health strategy and community development informed by strong design skills and a focus on end-user partnership. Daniel first collaborated with Nature Sacred on the partner side, while designing and cultivating dreams into action at Kirby Lane Park in Baltimore, MD. Daniel is passionate about helping his partners realize their unique dreams for a space and planning for holistic long-term stewardship.
Prior to joining Nature Sacred, Daniel led the academic-community collaboration Deeply Rooted as the Operations and Strategy Manager with the Urban Health Lab at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Justice. Prior to that, Daniel served as the Manager of Strategy and Engagement at Bon Secours Mercy Health where he focused on how the social determinants of health can be addressed through the built environment. Daniel led the establishment of the Parks and Open Space Program, parks and facility development, and engagement strategy. Daniel also was a Rose Architectural Fellow with Enterprise Community Partners from 2017-2019, a network of 90 fellows and 103 organizations that over the course of 22 years partnered emerging design professionals with leaders in community development. More prior, Daniel worked on college campus and medical campus planning projects as a Designer and Planner at Ayers Saint Gross.
Daniel holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, a Certificate in Landscape Studies also from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Design in Architecture from the University of Florida. Daniel lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and son. Daniel gets his 20 minutes of nature a day cultivating their 500 ft vegetable garden, cooking, exercising, or hanging out on the porch.
Remy Shaffer Gomes
Strategic Expansion & Development Lead
Remy Shaffer Gomes first encountered Nature Sacred in her work at University of Maryland and the Sacred Place there, the Garden of Reflection and Remembrance. More than a decade later, she is excited to partner with the Nature Sacred team to promote the benefits of nearby nature in healthcare settings. With a background in development and non-profit consulting, Remy considers herself a pollinator; connecting people and projects to make the world a smaller and better place. She earned her BA degree from University of Maryland and MA from Miami University.
Remy is never happier than when she’s outdoors, particularly with sand in between her toes. She gets her 20 minutes of nature a day hiking or biking in and around Baltimore or enjoying the view from her back deck with her husband and children.
Neha Srinivasan, PLA
Sr. Manager, Design & Sacred Places
As a landscape architect with a focus on ecological stewardship, Neha’s scientific background combine with her talent for art and writing to make her a versatile thinker who can creatively solve complex problems. Whether she’s designing a small space or planning for a larger region, her aspiration is always to create resilient, sustainable urban spaces that honor the communities she works with, both human and natural. In her role at Nature Sacred, she leverages the entirety of her diverse skill set on projects that foster enduring positive environmental, social, economic, and aesthetic change.
Neha graduated with a B.S. in environmental science and a Master’s of Landscape Architecture, both from the University of Michigan. In her spare time, Neha enjoys reading, various forms of art, and dancing. She gets her 20 minutes a day of nature by taking as many of these activities outdoors as possible, soaking up every stray ray of sunshine spilling through her windows, and talking to her houseplants.
Hannah Spirt-Jones
Programs Manager
With a background in Anthropology and American Studies, Hannah brings a set of unique skills and perspectives to Nature Sacred. With her interest in people and cultures, alongside her passion for human rights advocacy, Hannah is dedicated to supporting Nature Sacred and the expanding the Firesoul Network, while working to further promote diverse opportunities and equitable nature for all.
Hannah is a life-long lover of the outdoors spending much of her free time by hiking and camping in Maryland’s scenic wilderness, skiing, kayaking with family and visiting the mid-Atlantic beaches.
Haylie S. Kim
Development Associate
Haylie’s personal and professional goals align with the mission of Nature Sacred, as she seeks to help in healing neighborhoods and communities with the nourishing elements that nature provides. Haylie is driven by cultivating authentic relationships with communities and sharing her love for nature with those around her. In addition to an educational background in Environmental Studies, she brings several years of experience working in client relations, including her time at the YWCA Annapolis, a nonprofit dedicated to building an environment where women and girls thrive.
Before joining Nature Sacred, Haylie worked down the street from the Sacred Place located on 4th Street in Annapolis and would visit it often during her breaks. She enjoyed sitting on the bench, listening to the sound of boats floating by, and flipping through the Nature Sacred journal and reading entries that locals and tourists shared.
Haylie spends her 20 minutes a day in nature by spending time outside with her partner and mini Aussie or by visiting a park to read a good book while breathing in the fresh air.
Eva Vega-Olds
DEI Consultant
Eva Vega-Olds is an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and diversity, equity and inclusion specialist with 20 years of professional experience creating change in schools, universities, nonprofit organizations and the corporate world.
Eva creates DEI educational content tools and training resources, and leads group education through facilitated dialogue, interactive workshops and performance driven keynotes. Melding wellness with equity, emotional intelligence with practical skills building, Eva aspires to better prepare participants to take on the everyday work of personal and professional practices to heal the world.
Eva is a vivacious introvert who engages in greenspaces for energy, creativity and soul healing by gardening, hiking, and year-round walking meditation in her suburban neighborhood in Rutherford, NJ.
Eva received a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and is a Certified Professional Coach. Eva identifies as a white-presenting Afro-Indigenous Latina and uses she/her/hers pronouns.
Ron Ammon
Horticulturalist
As a master gardener and expert horticulturalist, Ron Ammon has been an integral part of Nature Sacred since our origin. His fingerprints are all over the organization: from the Nature Sacred model and process, to bench design, and overall ethos. We joke that Ron is truly like the sun—his presence alone uplifts and warms a room, and fortifies us with the nutrients our organization needs to thrive: horticulturally and spiritually.
Angela Walseng
Communications Strategist
Angela Walseng has more than a decade-and-a-half experience in communications, and has spent the past several years working with nonprofits and academia, and focusing largely on advocacy. On behalf of Nature Sacred, Angela is working to tell stories of the power of nature to help heal and strengthen individuals and communities, and to forge new creative partnerships and alliances that help further our mission of connecting people and nature throughout the US.
Kitty Stoner
Co-Founder and Vice Chair
Pictured with Tom Stoner, Co-Founder
Kitty Stoner is Co-Founder of Nature Sacred. In 2023, she and Tom celebrated 50 years of marriage. She is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Additionally, she has received recognition for her work from the American Horticultural Society and was awarded Outstanding Philanthropist in Maryland.
Read MoreOriginally from Iowa, she has devoted her life to the field of health and wellness. She was a pioneer in corporate wellness. She was an early proponent of peppering the planet with labyrinths as a sacred meditation tool. She is in awe daily of the Chesapeake Bay being her borrowed space in nature.
Kitty has 4 children, 5 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren who give her inspiration and faith in the future. She lives in Annapolis, MD.
Nichole Battle
Board Member
Since June 2013, Nichole Battle as served as the Chief Executive Officer at Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation (“GEDCO”). She originally started her career with GEDCO in 2006 as the Director of Real Estate Development. As CEO, Nichole oversees the senior services, community services, and homeless and supportive services lines of business.
Read MoreShe also manages and staffs the real estate development and consulting business of the organization identifying new business opportunities, growing the real estate development consulting business, addressing financing and capital needs of existing portfolio, and completing the Stadium Place community—an affordable senior housing complex located on the former Memorial Stadium site.
As CEO of GEDCO, Nichole is leading the organization on a path of sustainability, accountability, and growth as GEDCO is embarking on their 3rd strategic plan, rebuilding their organizational infrastructure, improving their service delivery to residents and clients, while building partnerships and serving the needs of the community. Ms. Battle has 20+ years of professional real estate and management experience in promoting and addressing community affordable housing needs in Ohio, Maryland and the District of Columbia. In her career, she has managed the development of over 500 rental and homeownership units in urban communities. Ms. Battle has extensive experience in community and master planning as well as experience in managing the land development process for urban residential communities.
With her affordable housing and community development background, Ms. Battle holds a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University of Maryland’s Sellinger School of Business, Masters degrees in City and Regional Planning and Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from The Pennsylvania State University. She currently serves on the following boards: Arlington Housing Coalition of Baltimore, the Community Leadership Board of the Y of Central Maryland, University of Baltimore Real Estate and Economic Development Program Advisory Board, Secretary, Central Maryland Ecumenical Corporation, Waverly Main Street, Secretary and Chair of the Membership Committee of Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, and Vice Chair of Baltimore Community Lending and Baltimore Business Lending.
Nichole resides in Baltimore with her teenage daughter Kayla and dog Cocoa.
Dick Blackburn
Board Member, Treasurer
Richard Blackburn brings over 40 years experience in scaling organizations through a career handling the sale of media and communications properties. He met Tom Stoner, co-founder of Nature Sacred, through dealings with Stoner Broadcasting and worked with him through the sale of American Radio.
Read MoreRichard brings a strong business background to the board and the efforts to expand Sacred Places to more communities in need nationwide. He has followed the Nature Sacred journey for two decades and in 2018 became a Firesoul for Nature Sacred’s Barton Park in Alexandria, VA.
Mike Bogan
Board Member
Mike Bogan is the CEO of LandCare, a national landscape firm serving commercial clients through 70 offices in 26 states. Mike joined LandCare in 2014, led a turnaround followed by a buyout, purchasing the company 2019. Based in Frederick, Maryland, with executive offices in San Diego, California, LandCare is the largest privately held business in the landscape industry. Prior to LandCare, Mike worked at The Brickman Group, also in the commercial landscape industry, for 23 years, serving in various leadership roles in Maryland, Florida and California. Today, Mike lives with his wife, Rebecca, in Del Mar, California while their adult children pursue their careers in Austin, Texas and Nanjing, China.
The Honorable Mary K. Bush
Board Member
The Honorable Mary Bush is one of the top women in the world in international finance and corporate governance. She has served on more than a dozen boards of major, global public companies, including Marriott, T. Rowe Price, Discover Financial Services, Texaco and United Airlines. She has chaired Governance and Audit Committees, served on Finance and Compensation Committees and chaired or served on the Boards of several charitable organizations. While in the corporate world – – with Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank, Bankers Trust and Fannie Mae, she became widely known for ground-breaking transactions with multinational companies and investors.
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Ms. Bush served three Presidents – as U.S. Director on the IMF Board, head of the Federal Home Loan Bank System during the S&L crisis and Board member of Sallie Mae. At the IMF, she represented the US government on critical policy matters during the 1980s emerging market debt crisis and led the creation of a new lending program that propelled developing countries toward free-markets and entrepreneurship. She also chaired a bipartisan congressional commission to transform the $32 billion of U.S. foreign aid to give greater emphasis to investment and human resource development. She also was appointed by US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, to the U.S. Treasury Committee on the Audit Profession.
Ms. Bush advises government and corporate leaders and is a frequent speaker on economic, governance and financial matters. She speaks to youth audiences on the power of strong values and self-determination. She was one of NACD’s top 100 Directors in 2012. Current boards include Bloom Energy, ManTech International and Private Export Funding Corporation. She is Chairman of Spark the Journey, a not-for-profit that mentors low-income youth through high school and college. Her M.B.A. is from the University of Chicago and her B.A. in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, is from Fisk University.
Edward Dunn
Board Member
Eddie is a strategic advisor with Brown Advisory—a leading investment firm—lending investment guidance to private and institutional clients. Prior to joining Brown Advisory, Eddie practiced law with the Baltimore law firm of Piper & Marbury. For Nature Sacred, Eddie lends executive insights and thoughtful acumen to help guide our organization forward.
Jonathan D. Eisner
Board Member
Jonathan “Jon” D. Eisner is a partner at Venable LLP. Jon Eisner concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of estate planning, including the drafting and construction of wills and trusts; estate and trust administration; and estate, gift, and income tax matters. Jon is particularly experienced at handling intergenerational family planning matters. Prior to joining Venable, he served as the chair of a global law firm’s trusts and estates practice group.
Amanda B. Farrand
Board Member
Amanda Farrand is EVP of Business & Brand Development of Imagine Entertainment and is charged with building strategic partnerships and social channels around Imagine’s mission of inspiring stories of human achievement to unlock new creative, revenue streams and audience to Imagine’s award-winning slate of content. Prior to joining Imagine, Amanda was the SVP of Partnerships & the Fair Play Franchise at Hello Sunshine where she forged partnerships with Fortune 500 companies while incubating and building Fair Play from a NY Times bestselling book to a Documentary, engaged social community, podcast and subsequent book. She’s worked at Studios (Sony, Paramount) and represented brands at Davie Brown Entertainment/The Marketing Arm (an Omnicom Agency).
Michael D. Hankin
Board Member
Mike is a partner of Brown Advisory, a member of the Executive Team and serves as president and chief executive officer. He is a director of both Brown Advisory Incorporated and Brown Investment Advisory & Trust Company.
Read MoreAs chair of the Baltimore Healthy Harbor Project and executive committee member of the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership and Management Authority, he has challenged the city to achieve a goal of making Baltimore’s Inner Harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020. He is a trustee of the Johns Hopkins University, trustee and vice chair of Johns Hopkins Medicine and chair of the board of managers of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. He also serves as chair of Land Preservation Trust, is a trustee of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, and is a director for the National Steeplechase Association and Associated Black Charities. Mike also serves on the board of directors of Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (NYSE: SWK) and on the boards of directors of three private companies, Tate Engineering Services, Inc., The Wills Group, Inc. and 1251 Capital Group, Inc.
Mike earned a B.A. and M.A. from Emory University in 1979 where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and he received a J.D. from The University of Virginia.
Lauren Marshall
Board Member
Healthy ecosystems and thoughtful, collaboratively designed places improve people’s lives. This is the central tenet that drives Lauren Marshall’s career as a professional landscape architect, certified arborist and Senior Program Manager for Innovation with the Arbor Day Foundation.
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Through processes embedded in community engagement and power sharing, she helps people weave natural infrastructure into the fabric of their communities, connecting them to the natural world from the tree outside of their front door that shades their sidewalk to the National Forest that provides their drinking water. To accomplish this aim, Lauren has taken on design and planning challenges across scales, ranging from designing vacant properties to maximize nature’s benefits, to building artisan and construction markets for salvaged and sustainably harvested wood products, to increasing landscape scale collaborative planning of our Nation’s forests. She received a Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences from Cornell University, and her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan.
Pascal Mittermaier
Board Chair
For the past 10 years, Pascal has been working in urban sustainability, helping to make cities across the world more resilient and livable places. Cities – already home to almost 3/4 of humanity – are at the forefront of some of our greatest challenges, including climate change, ecology loss, human health emergencies, as well as inequity and exclusion.
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From 2014 – 2019, Pascal was the Global Managing Director, Cities at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He led a team focused on bringing nature to global cities to help manage challenges such as storms and flooding, urban heat, and air quality. Nature continues to be a remarkably powerful – and cost effective – way to make our urban centers more sustainable, resilient, and healthier places.
Prior to joining TNC, Pascal was the Head of Sustainability, Europe, at Lend Lease, a global property company developing some of the most innovative green buildings and precincts in the world. Sustainability-led projects included the 2012 London Olympic Village and the Elephant & Castle Regeneration on Central London, a Climate 40 pilot site.
Before fully dedicating his career to sustainable development, Pascal worked for 20 years for Swiss healthcare company Roche. From 2002-2007 he was the CEO of Roche Canada and from 2007-2010 CEO of Roche Italy.
The intersection of healthcare and nature is one the main reasons for Pascal’s passion and enthusiasm for Nature Sacred!
Pascal graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics and a BA in History. He holds a MSc in Sustainable Development from DeMontfort University in the UK.
Pascal is originally from Germany and now lives with his family in Boston.
Emily Moore
Board Member
Emily Moore serves as Vice President of Business and Commercial Operations for GestVision, Inc. She has more than 20 years of experience in creating and implementing growth strategies, leading the process from strategy development to execution of profitable business plans.
Over the past 15 years, Emily has focused her career on bringing disruptive healthcare innovations to market to improve patient access and drive down the cost of care. Before joining GestVision, Inc., Emily held positions at Temptime Corporation, Magellan Health and Praxair, Inc.
Emily holds an MPH from Columbia University and a BA from Wellesley College.
Fred Smith
Board Member, Secretary
Fred Smith is the Vice President of Community Partnerships at the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama. Fred led the regional partnership to honor the 100th anniversary of Susie Parker Stringfellow with the creation of 17 Open Spaces Sacred Places™ throughout our nine-county region and has elevated the growth of the Out of the Shadows Summit, which focuses on mental health.
Read MoreFred is also a graduate of the Alabama Association of Not-for-Profit Executive Leadership certificate program. He completed the Essential Skills & Strategies for New Grantmakers in 2016. Fred earned his accreditation as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® from The American College in December of 2021. The Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) program gives professionals the broad knowledge and skills to assist donors in reaching their financial and philanthropic goals. The American College awards the designation to those who fulfill the rigorous educational, experience, and ethical requirements.
Fred serves on the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama Roundtable, a group that allows young civic and business leaders to study issues and government policy in Alabama. On a national level, he has participated in Foundations on the Hill held annually in Washington, DC.
Before joining the Community Foundation, Fred was a member of the faculty for Gadsden State Community College. Later he served as the Director of Jacksonville State University’s Community Wellness Program.
He has an Associate of Science degree from Southern Union Community College, Bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Master’s degree in Public Administration—both from Jacksonville State University.
Fred met his lovely wife Rochelle while they both attended Jacksonville State University. They have two daughters, Eden and Zion, and reside in Jacksonville, AL.
Glen Stewart
Board Member
Anna Brickman
External Committee
Anna currently manages the partnerships at Black Girl Ventures, a nonprofit that creates low barrier access to capital, capacity and community for black and brown women identifying founders. Prior to her work at Black Girl Ventures, Anna has worked at numerous national and global nonprofits that work to provide resources to underserved communities through the arts and education. Anna is also an ImpactMapper Fellow as well as a Young Professionals Committee member at Children of Promise NYC.
Heriselda Begaj-Viotti
Internal Committee Member
Heriselda Begaj-Viotti focuses on workforce innovation at Starbucks. Prior to this role, she was a Director of Impact at Participant Media. She holds a Master of International Affairs and a B.A. from Columbia University.
Outside of work, she volunteers with the World Central Kitchen, was a founding member of the IRC’s LA GenR chapter and recently served on the Louis August Jonas Foundation’s NYAA Board.
Tom Stoner
In Memoriam
Co-Founder & Chairman Emeritus
Tom Stoner was Co-Founder of Nature Sacred. He was an Honorary Members of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Additionally, he received recognition for his work from the American Horticultural Society and the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council.
Read MoreTom has served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and as Founding director, chairman of the Conflict Clinic associated with George Mason University, and founding president of the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation. He founded Stoner Broadcasting System, Inc. and co-founded American Radio Systems (NYSE) which were sold in the mid-to-late 1990s.
American Tower spun out of American Radio Systems (NYSE), which he also co-founded. Tom developed and produced the radio program “Worldtalk” the first talk radio connection between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War.
Tom is survived by four children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren who gave him inspiration and faith in the future.
Chuck Foster
Founding Director
Chuck brings over 30 years experience in conservation, education and nonprofit executive management. A lifelong Chesapeake Bay lover, Chuck served as the Chief of Staff at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Chuck has been a long-standing advisor to Nature Sacred, lending strategic organizational direction and guidance on future growth.
Chelle Stoner
Founding Director
Chelle Stoner is a true renaissance woman, working as a independent film producer, entrepreneur, and real estate professional. Chelle brings her vast experience of writing, producing and filming documentaries, as well as her creative problem solving skills to Nature Sacred.
Jack Bloodgood
In Memoriam 1931-2015
As a leading architect, art enthusiast and editor, Jack Bloodgood embodied the concept of “design thinking” long before it became a trend as in recent years. He innately understood how architecture and landscape should be designed to serve its users—its people and communities—in meaningful, impactful ways. Jack always fought for those in the greatest need—and played a leading role in helping craft, articulate and build what Nature Sacred is today.
Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa, FASLA, LEED AP
Design Advisor
Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa is an award-winning landscape architect with long-standing experience in the design of sustainable urban places. Among noted works is the Master Plan for the Parklands of Floyd’s Fork, in Louisville, KY; the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington, D.C.; and the SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus and Hoover-Mason Trestle in Bethlehem, PA. Ignacio also a writer and photographer. Among published works is Green Infrastructure: A Landscape Approach (with David Rouse); Reconsidering Ian McHarg: The Future of Urban Ecology, (Planners Press, 2014), and OF Limbs, Leaves, and Hope: A Portrait of Philadelphia’s Urban Forest in Times of a Pandemic. Ignacio holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Miami (FL), a Master of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Loeb Fellowship in Environmental Studies from Harvard University.
Joan Floura
Design Advisor
Principal and Founder of Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, Joan Floura brings nearly three decades experience working with public and private clients. For Nature Sacred, Joan has served as landscape architect for the Sacred Places at the Intersection of Change in Baltimore and the Baltimore Community Mediation Center garden.
Jay Graham
Lead Design Advisor
Jay Graham, founder and principal at Moody Graham Landscape Architects and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, has partnered with Nature Sacred for many years, serving as our design advisor for the Nature Sacred Awards program and landscape architect for our Sacred Place at the Light House Shelter in Annapolis.
Vernon Hustead
Design Advisor
Vernon Hustead is the founder of Hustead Landscape Architecture, an active ASLA member for the last 25+ years and has served as landscape architect for our Sacred Place at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup.
Lanshing Hwang
Design Advisor
Lanshing is a principal of Symbiosis, a scientist by training and a passionate advocate for sustainable landscapes. She is a true believer of interdisciplinary collaboration. Her experience encompasses master planning, site design and project management. Throughout her career, she has worked on projects both in the United States and abroad.
Her work includes a wide range of institutional campuses, schools, parks, public gardens, streetscapes, ecotourism destinations, commercial landscapes and planning projects from less than an acre to 40 square miles. She is interested in delivering engaging landscapes as the result of clear and succinct design.
Naudy Martinez
Design Advisor
Through her work in non-profits and now local government, Naudy Martinez, has partnered with hundreds of organizations nationwide to customize and transform spaces that reflect the vision of the community. She brings over 10 years of experience in project, grant, and volunteer management, holds a bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Maryland, and is inspired by the possibilities of using public space design to create social equity and positive change.
Jack Sullivan
Design Advisor
Serving as Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and associate professor at the University of Maryland, Jack Sullivan led the design process for the Sacred Place at the University of Maryland, and the design of the Sacred Place at the Green Road, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
Naomi Sachs
Design Advisor
Co-author of Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces, founder of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network and Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Dr. Naomi Sachs has influenced much of the Nature Sacred design ethos and processes. It was used extensively by Dr. Fred Foote (Firesoul) to inspire the design of the Green Road, for example.
Heidi Thomas
Design Advisor
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
Alexandria Casteel
Alexandria Casteel is an environmental anthropology graduate student at Dartmouth College, with broad interests in urban ecologies and environmental justice. For her doctoral research, she is interested in how legacies of structural racism shape Black environmental care, concern, and advocacy in Baltimore City. On the one hand, this research is motivated by the ongoing racial and political tensions in the United States, which have illuminated the ways that differences such as race inform the kinds of relationships we have with the environment, shape environmental debates and discourses, as well as determine access to nature and environmental amenities. On the other hand, Alexandria is also greatly inspired by her involvement in addressing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion concerns at Dartmouth and beyond.
David Greenberg, President & CEO, The League for People with Disabilities
Firesoul, The League for People with Disabilities
David A Greenberg has been President and CEO of The League for People with Disabilities in Baltimore since 2007. The League is a 93-year-old nonprofit serving more than 4,000 individuals a year through social, medical, recreational and educational programing for individuals with all types of disabilities. The League in home to beautiful Nature Sacred therapeutic gardens with two distinct water features located in NE Baltimore near Morgan University.
Previously Mr. Greenberg was a vice president at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital responsible for ambulatory services. Mr. Greenberg holds a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University, Baltimore; and a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing from the American University in Washington, D.C. He is a registered nurse in the State of Maryland.
Mr. Greenberg is a Class of 2014 Leadership Maryland, a graduate of the 2011 Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Fellows Program and is a graduate of the 2009 class of Leadership Baltimore County. He is currently a Commissioner on both the (Baltimore City) Mayor’s Commission on Disabilities as well as the Baltimore County Commission on Disabilities. He is a board member of both Maryland Association of Community Services and Rotary Baltimore.
In 2014, Mr. Greenberg was awarded the Daily Record’s Most Admired CEO Award. Mr. Greenberg has been a licensed Registered Nurse in Maryland since 1977.
Alex Smith, Founder, Division Street Landscaping
Alex Smith founded Division Street Landscaping in 2017. He manages day-to-day operations, working with clients, and securing new partnerships. In his previous position as the Director of Operations for the Baltimore Tree Trust he planted over 7,500 trees and created Urban Roots Apprenticeship, a workforce development program that trains men and women with barriers to employment in basic landscaping and tree care.
Michelle Shin, Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton
Michelle is working to create healthier, happier, and more sustainable communities through effective and inclusive storytelling. Prior to joining Booz Allen Hamilton, she primarily worked on improving the communications of mission-oriented organizations. Michelle graduated from Cornell University with a self-crafted major combining several disciplines including environmental governance, health policy, spatial planning, and business management.
While studying abroad in Copenhagen, Michelle directly experienced the healing power of nature and community building through storytelling. and envisions a future where all communities in the United States have equitable, inclusive access to nature.
Lauren Marshall
Healthy ecosystems and thoughtful, collaboratively designed places improve people’s lives. This is the central tenet that drives Lauren Marshall’s career as a professional landscape architect, certified arborist and Senior Program Manager for Innovation with the Arbor Day Foundation.
Through processes embedded in community engagement and power sharing, she helps people weave natural infrastructure into the fabric of their communities, connecting them to the natural world from the tree outside of their front door that shades their sidewalk to the National Forest that provides their drinking water. To accomplish this aim, Lauren has taken on design and planning challenges across scales, ranging from designing vacant properties to maximize nature’s benefits, to building artisan and construction markets for salvaged and sustainably harvested wood products, to increasing landscape scale collaborative planning of our Nation’s forests. She received a Bachelor of Science in Plant Sciences from Cornell University, and her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan.
Eva Vega-Olds
DEI Consultant
Eva Vega-Olds is an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and diversity, equity and inclusion specialist with 20 years of professional experience creating change in schools, universities, nonprofit organizations and the corporate world.
Eva creates DEI educational content tools and training resources, and leads group education through facilitated dialogue, interactive workshops and performance driven keynotes. Melding wellness with equity, emotional intelligence with practical skills building, Eva aspires to better prepare participants to take on the everyday work of personal and professional practices to heal the world.
Eva is a vivacious introvert who engages in greenspaces for energy, creativity and soul healing by gardening, hiking, and year-round walking meditation in her suburban neighborhood in Rutherford, NJ.
Eva received a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and is a Certified Professional Coach. Eva identifies as a white-presenting Afro-Indigenous Latina and uses she/her/hers pronouns.
Param Dedhia
DEI Committee Member
Param Dedhia, MD is passionate about defining health. He is a dedicated internal medicine
clinician as a former academic. With his experience in integrative medicine, he often makes
connections that are overlooked. As an executive health doctor, he surveys innovation
to separate fact from fiction. His medical career spans Johns Hopkins, Canyon Ranch, and
most recently MOVEO Health. Param is board certified in internal medicine, obesity medicine
and sleep medicine. Moreover, he is fellowship trained in integrative medicine, and geriatric
medicine.
With his family background from India, Param loves to bridge eastern and western
philosophies. With this, he connects traditional wisdom to modern science. He is forever
curious about the world and is widely travelled. Any book by Malcolm Gladwell makes him
smile. If there is a destination or book that he needs to put on his list, please let him know.
Since he was young, he has lived by the saying: “Know Thyself.” Param is nourished by friends
and family, rejuvenated by music and dance, and inspired by kindness and all things clever.
Naomi Sachs, PhD, ASLA, EDAC
Naomi Sachs is a Nature Sacred Design Advisor and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland. She is Founding Director of the Therapeutic Landscapes Network (www.healinglandscapes.org) and Co-editor of the peer-reviewed Health Environments Research and Design Journal. Naomi has published and presented nationally and internationally on the positive role of nature in human health and well-being. Among other publications, Naomi is co- author with Clare Cooper Marcus of the book Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces.
